When Worlds Collude
by amythis
Summary: During the spring of 1986, Angela and Tony end up seeing their relationship in a new way when her friend Emily and his friend Eddie get together. (Starts out with E/E, then moves into A/T.)
1. Magnetic Field

Emily found her favorite kind of hand cream. Eddie had been a perfect gentleman in the van and he took her right to the drug store. Perhaps she had misinterpreted his kiss on Angela's couch, or maybe he had second thoughts.

He had wandered off in the store and she didn't see him till she went to pay for the moisturizer. He was standing by the door, holding a little brown bag. Maybe he just wanted an excuse to run his own errand there. Well, she'd have him drive her back to Angela's and then she could go to brunch with her old friend, who could maybe help her sort out what had happened.

She had been instantly attracted to Eddie Carpucci. Yes, he was different, cruder, than the men she was used to, but instead of being offended by his comment, "Who's the fox with the great maracas?", she was flattered. He didn't say it as if he was trying to humiliate her but as if it were a sincere compliment. And he was very good-looking, with his curly black hair, intense gray eyes, full lips, and thin but not skinny body. Also, he had a very firm grip, from being an exterminator.

When Angela and Tony, her male housekeeper, went into the kitchen, Eddie immediately sat down next to Emily on the couch and asked, "Can I kiss you?"

Emily wasn't used to that sort of directness either, but she nodded. At first the kiss was light and tentative, but soon he nibbled on her lips and she opened them. They French-kissed and he pressed his body against hers, their arms wrapped around each other. She had never felt this sort of instant, physical attraction, but it was wonderful! She tried not to question it but just enjoy it.

When she heard Angela loudly say, "Tony, I think it's time we got back to our guests," and Tony reply, "Good idea, Angela," she felt Eddie push himself away from her and move to the other end of the couch. She sat up and tried to look composed.

Emily tried not to make eye contact with Eddie as Angela babbled about an old college friend, but Emily couldn't help it. He returned her gaze with his smoldering eyes. She made up the errand about getting hand cream, and he immediately borrowed the keys to Tony's van. She'd thought they were on the same page, but apparently not. Well, it had been a fantastic kiss and he would never have to know she'd hoped for more.

She met him at the store door and, as he held it open for her, she said, "Well, I guess I should be getting back to Angela so we can have brunch."

"Are you in a hurry? I mean, it's still early, right?"

"Right."  
"I was thinkin', maybe we could go for a drive. New England's real pretty this time of year. And as long as you're here and we've got the van."  
"All right." It wasn't like she and Angela had reservations at a specific time and place. They'd agreed to discuss it when she arrived, although she'd been very distracted of course.

She and Eddie went out to the van and he again opened the door for her. He was rough around the edges but somehow more of a gentleman than most men. Maybe that was an Italian thing and/or a Brooklyn thing. She'd ask Angela later.

She and Eddie made small talk about the scenery. It was the vernal equinox, so he said, "Everyone talks about fall foliage, but me, I like spring. Something about the start of things."  
She nodded. "Me, too."

"You get much seasons at Stanford?"

"A little. It's in Palo Alto, near San Francisco, so there's no snow. But we get some seasonal change." She hope she didn't sound too stodgy.

"Is it green like this?"

"No, not quite like this."

"Oh. You wanna try a side road? I bet it's even prettier away from all these houses and businesses and stuff."  
"OK." She wouldn't make assumptions. He wouldn't necessarily get fresh again, much as she wanted him to. Maybe he wanted to go somewhere quiet where they could talk, so he could explain his behavior in Angela's living room. She wasn't sure how to explain her own, which she suspected was far more out of character than his. He seemed to be very physical and she wasn't, or at least she didn't think she was.

They made some more small talk as they made their way further into the countryside. After awhile, she asked, "Are you familiar with Fairfield and this area?"

"Me? Nah, I'm just following my instincts, going where feels right."

"Ah."

His instincts led them to Lake Piedmont, a lovely setting. The lake was set in the middle of a small forest, as far from buildings as they could get. He parked the van and for a few moments they just took in the view.

Then he asked, "Can I kiss you again?"

She nodded. This time she knew they wouldn't be interrupted, but she was far more excited and eager than nervous or scared. When she felt his hand on her leg, pushing up her knee-length black skirt, she didn't stop him but instead put her hands under his checked shirt and along his undershirt.

"I want you, Emily!" he whispered and then nibbled on her earlobe.

"Oh, Eddie! I want you, too, but this is happening so fast!"  
"I know!" He pulled away enough for her to miss his body heat. "Is it too fast?"  
"I don't know. This isn't like me, but it feels good."  
"Yeah. I know I should've asked you out, on a real date, but you're just passing through, right?"

"Right."  
"And the idea of not touching you, kissing you, it would've killed me not to at least try."  
"I'm glad you did."

"Yeah?"  
"Yes. That's why I brought up the hand cream."

He smiled a little. "With the deep, penetrating moisturizers?"

She blushed a little. "Yes."

"Would you like me to rub some on you? I mean your hands."  
"I would." She reached for her bag and took out the hand cream.

He took it from her and squeezed out a little into his palms. "You've got very soft skin anyway."  
"Thank you."  
"But let's keep it that way."  
She laughed. "OK." Then she sighed as he massaged the cream onto and into her hands. His hands were strong and yet somehow gentle.

"That feel good, Emily?"

"Yes," she sighed.

And then he rubbed up to her wrists. "Too bad you're wearing long sleeves."  
"Do you want me to take off my blouse?"

He grinned. "I wouldn't complain."

"I think you just want a better look at my 'maracas.' "

"Hm, is this stuff just for hands?"

She blushed more, but she took off her long-sleeved, high-necked red silk blouse.

"You're gorgeous, you know that?"

She blushed more and murmured thanks.

The cream did go on more than her hands and she took off more of her clothes so he could touch more of her skin. They kissed part of the time, and Eddie found other places to nibble than her mouth and her ears.

"You want to, Emily?" he asked when she was almost swooning from his attentions.

"Oh, yes, Eddie! But I'm not protected." A visit to her female college chum hadn't seemed like a time when she had to worry about packing contraception.

"I bought condoms. At the drug store."

She looked at him in surprise. "You did?"

"Yeah, not makin' any assumptions. I mean, you're a classy dame and I know you're not easy with everyone. But just in case."

She could've argued that she wasn't easy with him either, but she didn't believe it herself. This was a one-morning stand but why not take it all the way? It would kill her to stop now. "I want you inside me, Eddie," she whispered.

He grinned and then nibbled her neck. "That's where I most want to be, Emily."


	2. Perigee

"Talk about your deep, penetrating moisturizers," Eddie said, shaking his head.

"Yes," Emily said, then made a sound that was somewhere between a laugh and a sigh.

"I'm really sorry about that. Really."  
"I know, it's not your fault."  
"No, I was too, um, vigorous. It's just you're, Madonna mi! You're amazing!"  
"Thank you. So are you."  
"Thanks."

"And I was moving a lot, too, and, well, these things happen."

"I guess. What should we do now?"

She shook her head. "It'll be fine. It's not the right part, I mean the wrong part, I mean the dangerous part, of my cycle."  
"You sure?"

"Yes." She didn't look like she was 100% sure, but she was the woman and knew more about it than he did. "And it stayed on most of the time, so it's probably fine."

"OK." He kissed her forehead and she snuggled closer to him. He didn't want to have to think about what would happen next, not even what would happen right after they left the back of Tony's van.

"And I, well, maybe I shouldn't say this, but it felt good to have you come in me."  
"I loved it!" he couldn't help exclaiming.  
She chuckled. "I could tell."

"You liked it, too, didn't ya?" he gently teased.

"Mm hm. I've never had anyone reach orgasm in me without a condom. I mean at that moment."

"I usually use one. I'm safe, in case you're worried."

"So am I. Safe I mean."

"So it's fine, right?" He wanted more reassurance.

"It's lovely," she said, this time initiating their kiss.

They kissed for awhile until she reluctantly pulled away and said, "I really do need to get back to Angela's."

"Yeah. And I was supposed to help Tony clean up from our all-night poker game."

"You went all night?"

"Sometimes I can go all night and all day." He liked this, the post-sex flirting.

And she seemed to like it, too, since she said, "I hope I get to play with you some night."

It wasn't easy but they did make themselves get dressed and then to the front seat of the van. He drove her back to Fairfield. They didn't talk much along the way. He wasn't sure what to say, and maybe she wasn't either. But they did give each other enough fiery side-glances that he was a little worried about his driving.

He wanted to be with her again. Even with the condom slippage, it had been, well, this wasn't a word he normally used, but, she was right, it was lovely. As lovely as a lake in the middle of a forest. She was gorgeous, with her wavy dark blonde hair, her high cheekbones, and her slim but curvy body. And it had been real good between them. Hot but something else he couldn't quite define.

He wished he could see her, really date her. But she lived across the country, in a land where it never snowed and where chicks had jobs like studying organizational productivity. What was he going to do, take her to Marty's Melody Room and teach her how to shoot pool?

He thought of Tony and his boss Angela. She was a classy dame who ran a big advertising agency, but she'd showed them last night that she could play poker like one of the guys. Tony always said there was nothing going on with the two of them, but Eddie had his doubts, especially after seeing them together. It was nothing specific, just a feeling, a not-yet-ness.

Anyway, maybe Eddie wouldn't have hit on someone like Emily if he hadn't thought that Tony should and someday maybe would get with Angela. Emily wasn't Eddie's usual type, but he thought of classy dames differently now, especially classy dames getting with earthy guys. Well, Emily could be earthy in her own way.

"You know that one thing you did, right before?"

She blushed. "I think so."  
"Well, where'd you learn that?"

"Graduate school."

He chuckled, although he wasn't sure if she was kidding.

He wished she were visiting longer so he could see her again. Then again, what was the point? Even if they had fun together, maybe a lot of fun, there was no future in it. She was the kind of woman who deserved a real relationship, and how could he give that to her? They were miles apart, and not just on the map.

And then let's say somehow it got serious. What then? He couldn't expect her to give up her fancy job and her snow-less home to marry him and live in Brooklyn. She was not exactly a Pitkin Avenue girl. He was starting to see why Tony had never pursued things with Angela. And they each had a kid, so that made things even more complicated.

Still, he'd give Emily his business card. Maybe she'd visit Angela again someday and, who knows, she might look him up. They could meet in New York, or maybe he'd head up to Connecticut. She'd be worth the trip.

And if she never contacted him, he'd understand. They'd had a great time, but it didn't have to lead anywhere to stay great.

"So what are you gonna tell Angela?"

"About what?"

"About why it took so long to get your hand cream." He tried not to remember how it had felt smoothing it onto and into her delicate skin.

She laughed. "Oh, um, I guess I'll say we had to go all the way to New Haven."  
"Or Hartford. That's a half hour further."

She nodded. "Too bad it wasn't Boston."  
He wanted her again, right then, but he just chuckled and said, "Yeah, too bad."


	3. Orbit

Tony hesitated before calling Eddie Carpucci about the monthly poker game. This time there was no problem about where it would be held. Philly Fingers had made up with his wife and she agreed to let him host the game, as long as she didn't have to make the snacks. But Tony couldn't help thinking about what happened after the last poker game.

Even though Angela had played with them, and won, before heading up to bed, and the guys had loved her, she didn't think Emily would fit in as well. The two friends from grad school were going to have brunch the next morning, and the game ran very late. Angela wanted the guys to leave before Emily showed up, but Eddie offered to help clean up the messy, smoky kitchen.

Eddie was still there when Emily arrived and he hit on her. Instead of being offended, she made out with Eddie the moment that Tony and Angela went to talk in the kitchen. And then the two of them went off on some errand, in Tony's van, for "hand cream" and were gone for a couple hours. Tony was very surprised. Emily was a classy lady, and Angela had described her in a way that made her sound more uptight than Angela herself.

Tony was no stranger to lust, including this kind that swept over you. But he was almost as surprised as Angela. Eddie and Emily had just met, and Eddie didn't usually work that fast. Neither of them seemed to see a future in it, although Emily did take Eddie's business card that she'd crumpled up.

At the time, Tony was reminded of another of Angela's college friends, Trish Baldwin, who was her roommate a few years before Emily. Trish was also passing through town, but she really imposed on Angela, and she used Tony. He hadn't realized at first that it was a one-night stand, since she'd invited him to the reunion, but she dumped him for a rich guy. (Tony indirectly had his revenge, when the rich guy dumped Trish for Angela.) Anyway, Emily seemed nicer and Tony didn't think she was just using Eddie. But she lived in California and, as Eddie said, what was he gonna do, marry her and have her move to Brooklyn? Still, Tony could picture them going out together the next time she came through town.

Then this week, he'd looked at the Eddie & Emily thing in a new way. Tony had almost slept with a woman who was so classy, she made Emily look like Theresa from Marty's Melody Room. Angela's client Genevieve Pescher was rich, French, and sophisticated, but also nice and down to earth. (She'd enjoyed the guided tour of Brooklyn in Angela's Jag.) They wanted each other, but Angela thought that the account depended on Tony being more than an escort. So she'd showed up at Genevieve's hotel and unintentionally made the Frenchwoman think that there was more between him and Angela than there was.

Not that there was nothing, but it wasn't what people, like Joanne Parker, thought. He and Angela had kinda sorta talked about getting together, but they didn't want to wreck their friendship and everything else they had together, including being sort of parents to each other's kids. It was different for Eddie and Emily, or Tony and Genevieve for that matter. Tony and Angela lived in the same house. They couldn't just hop into bed together and maybe never see each other again. Angela wasn't just passing through Tony's life for a few hours or a couple days.

Yeah, he supposed they could date. They were too good friends for it to just be about sex. But she was his boss, not just his roommate. And he'd sworn the first night he moved in that he would never do something stupid like sleep with his employer (as she was then planning to do with her boss). Genevieve had been wealthier than any woman he'd ever imagined being with, but she'd had no power over him. And Joanne would've hypocritically spread gossip if Angela slept with her housekeeper. (Mona had recently told them about Joanne and her pool man, and Joanne and her dry-cleaner.)

Anyway, Tony was curious about whether Eddie had heard from Emily, but he didn't want to bring it up in case Eddie hadn't. It was just on his mind, and he had to clear it a little before he could call.

"...So, Eddie, can you make the poker game? It's at Philly's this time."  
"Uh, gee, no, Tony. I've got plans."

"Plans that you can't change?"  
"Yeah, um, I'm gonna be with Emily."  
"You're kiddin'!"

"No, I'm flying out to California this weekend."

"Wow, a weekend in California! I guess you guys really hit it off."  
"We did. Um, it's not just the weekend."  
"What?"

"I'm movin' out there."

"Wow!"  
"Yeah, I know, it's amazing." Eddie sounded more stunned than excited.

"That's great, but, uh, isn't this happening kinda fast? I mean, you just met her a month ago."  
"I know. But we've been talkin' on the phone and writin' letters, and this just feels like the right thing to do."  
"But what about your life in Brooklyn? How can you give that up?"  
"You gave up your life in Brooklyn."  
"That was different. I wanted a better life for Sam. And I had a job waitin' for me here."

"Well, I can be an exterminator anywhere. It's not like they don't got bugs in California."  
"Right. Um, well, best of luck to you, Buddy."  
"Thanks, Tony. Can you do me a favor and tell the guys?"  
"You haven't told them?"

"Nah, I don't want them ridin' me about it. They don't even know about, um, what happened after the poker game."

"Oh. Um, yeah, I guess I can tell them at the game."  
"Thanks, Tony. I owe ya. And Angela. I wouldn't have met Emily if not for you two."  
"Right." It wasn't like they'd matchmade them. In fact, Angela seemed upset at first, although she was romantic enough to get used to and then like the idea of her friend with his. Wow, wait till Angela found out about this part!

He got off the phone and then wondered what to say to Angela. Maybe she would think this was a terrible development and she'd be worried for her friend. Tony was worried for his friend. Yeah, it was great that Eddie connected with Emily, but couldn't they just do a long-distance thing for awhile? And he was giving up more than she was.

Tony was about to go in the living room, where Angela was working from home that day, when he heard her shriek, "Eeee!" It made him think of her greeting of Emily, and of E & E. He had the feeling that this had something to do with Emily.

Sure enough, when he went into the room, Angela was holding an opened envelope. "Tony!" she exclaimed. "Guess what?"

"Your friend Emily wrote and said that Eddie Carpucci is movin' in with her." Angela stared at him, so he smiled and said, "I just got off the phone with him."

"Oh. Well, isn't this exciting?"  
"Yeah. But a little crazy. I mean, they only met a month ago."  
"Well, you moved in with me the first day we met," she teased.

"Those circumstances were a little different, Angela."  
"I know. This is sudden, but so was their, um, initial encounter. And she does seem very fond of him. And he of her."  
"Fondness is great, but Eddie doesn't really know anything about California. It's a big deal for him to go to Jersey."

"Well, it's a big step for Emily, too. She's never lived with anyone before, I mean romantically. She has her routine there and it's going to have to change with him around."

"Yeah, but he's giving up his whole routine, his whole life."  
"Oh, come on, Tony, how different can extermination be on the West Coast?"

"It's not just that. He's giving up his friends and everything he knows and loves in Brooklyn. That wasn't easy for me, and I had more reason to move, and not as far to go."

"But you've adjusted and you still see your friends now and then."  
"Yeah, well, I don't think Emily is gonna invite the guys over for poker."  
"He can make new friends. You have."

"It's not the same."  
"Tony, why are you arguing with me? I'm not making him move in with Emily. I'm just as surprised as you are. And, yes, I do think this has happened too quickly. But this is what they want and I'm trying to be happy for them."

He nodded. "Yeah, sorry. I just can't imagine moving in with someone I'd only spent a couple hours with, no matter how great those couple hours were."  
"I couldn't either. I like to know someone well. I mean if it was a romantic moving in. And letters and phone calls, like they've been doing, would help you get to know someone, but it's not the same as being there in person."  
"Yeah. Well, I guess if it doesn't work out, he could always move back to Brooklyn."

"Yes. But I hope it will work out."  
"Me, too."

They might've discussed it more, but then Mrs. Wilmington showed up. Her husband had run off with their maid, Phoebe, after an affair of a couple years. Tony didn't point out to Angela then or later that Phoebe and Mr. Wilmington had known each other a lot longer and probably better than Eddie and Emily. He was too distracted by Mrs. Wilmington temporarily moving into Angela's house.


	4. Eclipse

As Angela drove the rental car from San Francisco down to Palo Alto, she thought about Emily's romance with Eddie. It was still hard to believe that they'd moved in after a month and were still together two months later. There must've been something more there than just physical attraction.

Inevitably, she also thought of Tony. It was two weeks since he'd told her he loved her. They hadn't discussed it and in fact were pretending it had never happened. After all, he was heavily sedated, about to go in for major surgery. And as she'd told Jonathan on Valentine's Day, she and Tony loved each other as friends. Not that it was completely platonic, but they'd never acted on their feelings beyond one drunken kiss and a couple relatively innocent nights of sharing a bed.

Tony was her best friend. There were things she told him that she'd never tell Wendy or Isabel, or even her mother. He was the person, other than Jonathan, that she most wanted to spend time with. They were bringing up Jonathan and Sam, and sometimes Mother, together. He wasn't just her housekeeper, and she wasn't just his boss.

In comparison, what did Emily and Eddie have? Yet they had been able to make this huge leap, huge for both of them, although Tony was right that it was bigger for Eddie. Maybe they shared things that she and Tony couldn't, because they didn't have as many barriers in the way. Just their different backgrounds, and that wasn't an insurmountable barrier.

And, OK, maybe starting out a relationship with lust wasn't necessarily bad. She and Tony couldn't have run off and steamed up the windows of his van, but Emily and Eddie could. There were times, Angela could nearly admit this to herself although to no one else, when she wished that she and Tony could go to bed not so innocently. Like that night in the run-down motel ten months ago. She'd been very tempted, and Tony seemed to be, too, but he was afraid of risking what they had. Of course, if they had given in, it wouldn't exactly have been as rushed as Emily's encounter with Eddie. After all, it was over twenty years since her first kiss with "Anthony"!

She had told Emily, as she'd told Genevieve Pescher, Diane Wilmington, Wendy, Isabel, her mother, and the entire Fairfield Parents Association, that there was nothing romantic between her and Tony. But Tony's recent, if groggy, profession of some kind of love was something that she might want to discuss with Emily. After all, Emily used to be her best friend, but she was also somewhat of an outsider. A confession of her muddled feelings to her mother or Wendy, or even the more reserved Isabel, would lead to them changing their behavior around her and Tony. Emily probably would never see Tony again, unless she and Eddie paid an East Coast visit. Angela smiled at the idea of Emily encountering Theresa, the trashy waitress at Marty's Melody Room.

Angela wouldn't be out here on the West Coast if not for the Vionelli Pasta account. There'd been some trouble when Mr. Vionelli chose a shy but gorgeous, Nordic-looking photographer as the model to replace the striking Jewish-pretending-to-be-Italian woman that Angela had selected in New York. The two rivals, with Angela's help, had worked out a compromise, agreeing to split the job, salary, and furnished apartment. Angela had definitely earned her commission on this one.

She was looking forward to an early dinner with Emily before heading back to her hotel in San Francisco and then flying out the next morning. In a way, she wished she could see the sights but it wouldn't be as much fun on her own. Emily and Eddie were probably still in the honeymoon stage and wouldn't want a third wheel around for more than an hour or so.

Angela did envy them that, despite all she had with Tony. She wished she had a serious boyfriend, despite her fears of commitment after Michael. Grant and the others had been fun but it was never anything with a future. Mother encouraged her to play the field, like she did, but Mother had the memories of an almost perfect husband. (So Daddy was a workaholic. Big deal! There were worse traits than that in a mate.)

Well, soon Angela would be home. This was the next to last day of spring and the kids were already out of school. Maybe they'd all go somewhere this summer, if she could get away from the office long enough. Last summer, it had been fun to visit Jonathan at her old camp, even before she found about "Anthony" and Kissing Rock. Maybe she could take a long weekend. The family, and they were an unofficial family, could use the time away together, especially after the year they'd had.

She shook her head, remembering her last trip to California. Officially, it was for Guacamunchies (another difficult account), but really it'd been about Michael's wedding. He'd rushed into a relationship, too, marrying a 24-year-old blonde named Heather when the ink was hardly dry on the divorce papers. OK, his marriage with Angela was emotionally over years before it was legally over, but it had still been a shock to see him move on like that, as if he had no baggage. If Angela ever took the plunge again, she would think it over carefully first, weighing the pros and cons, not just thinking with her heart, or other organs than the brain.

Anyway, Michael had thought he wanted custody part-time but he wasn't much more mature than Heather. Tony had reacted like Jonathan was their son, hers and Tony's. And there were times when Angela forgot that Sam wasn't her little girl. This was a family, but the connection was shaky. As she'd told her Mother a couple weeks ago, if she had a relationship with Tony and it didn't work out, they would lose not only each other but each other's child. And she couldn't risk that.

She found Emily's apartment complex, a few miles from the Stanford campus. She parked in a spot marked "VISITOR" and then looked for the apartment number from the address of Emily's letters that gushed about Eddie. Emily wrote a couple times a month, talking a little about her work and old college memories, but mostly going on and on about Eddie. Angela was happy for her, really, but it was a bit much at times.

She noticed that the curtains were drawn back. She found herself on the outside looking in, like a kid at a candy store. She wanted a glimpse of Eddie and Emily together before she rang the bell. Not for voyeuristic reasons, but to acknowledge her jealousy and then move past it. However, the dark hair of the man hugging Emily was wavy rather than curly. And as her heart wrenched in her chest, she realized that Emily was in the arms of Tony.


	5. Constellation

Tony let go and said, "Sorry about the big hug but you're like family now. And, ay, I'm Italian."

Emily laughed. "I happen to like Italian affection." She and Eddie grinned at each other. Then someone knocked, so she said, "That must be Angela."

"Is it all right if I answer it?" Tony asked. "I'd like to see the surprise on her face."

"Well, we've already got a big surprise for her," Emily said uncertainly.

"Yeah, but this will ease her into that one."  
"I don't know. Angela has never dealt well with surprises."

Tony couldn't really argue with that. She tended to overreact, whether with panic or joy.

"I'll get it," Eddie said and moved to the door. He opened it and said, "Welcome to Palo Alto, Angela," then gave her a big hug.

"Um, well, thank you, Eddie." Angela sounded flustered, if less than she would've been if it had been Tony greeting her.

Then Eddie let go and said, "You feel like going to City Hall for a wedding?"

"Eddie!" Emily scolded and Tony couldn't blame her. Eddie had a tendency to skip right to the heart of something, without preliminaries.

"A wedding?" Angela glanced over at Tony and he wondered if she thought their friends were nudging them towards the altar. Or the podium or whatever they used at City Hall.

Emily went over to Angela and said, "Eddie and I are getting married and we thought since you were in the Bay Area, we'd like you to be the matron of honor."

"And you can't say no when Tony's flown all the way across country just to be best man."

"Oh!" Angela exclaimed, now putting the pieces together.

"They made me promise not to tell," Tony said.

Eddie had called him up the same day that Angela's flight left for SFO. Eddie said that he and Emily had been talking marriage and with Angela so close by it seemed a good time for it. "Will you stand up for me, be my best man?"

"Well, sure, but how am I gonna get to California?" Unlike Angela, Tony didn't have a business travel account.

"Emily will pay for it."  
Tony felt funny taking a gift like that, especially from a woman he didn't know very well, but Eddie insisted, since it was because of Tony that Eddie had met Emily. And Eddie said that Emily wanted him to have one of his Pitkin Avenue posse present.

"...We're gonna do the big Italian wedding in Brooklyn this summer," Eddie had told Tony then and was telling Angela now.

"But we want to make it legal today," Emily said with a shy smile. Tony wondered if she was gonna tell Angela her other news. Well, probably not in front of him and Eddie.

"Well, this is wonderful," Angela said, still sounding caught off guard. "Um, am I dressed appropriately?" She was in one of her business outfits of course.

"You're fine," Emily said. She was wearing a silk dress, off-white, that Tony hoped he hadn't wrinkled when he bear-hugged her.

Tony straightened his tie. "So, uh, are we taking one car or two?"

"Well, Angela, you brought your rental car, right?" Emily asked.

"Uh, yes." She sounded uncertain even of that.

Tony felt like giving her a comforting hug but he was self-conscious in front of Eddie and Emily. And he couldn't help thinking of how it was only two weeks since he had told Angela he loved her. He didn't remember it since he was sedated but that was what the nurse had told him the next day. He remembered flirting with Angela over a candlelit dinner and how they had been about to talk about their feelings, but then he had appendix trouble. And he vaguely remembered asking Angela to look after Sam if anything happened to him during surgery. Maybe he'd meant he loved her as his best friend, and as a sort of mother to Sam. He wasn't sure, and he didn't know how Angela had taken it, other than that the nurse said it seemed to shake up his "lady friend."

This chance to see each other away from home, away from Mona and the equally curious kids, this might be a chance to talk about their relationship. And a wedding was certainly a romantic opportunity, even a quick ceremony at City Hall. But maybe it was better not to discuss it, just go on with life as it was.

"Babe, why don't I take Tony in your car?" Eddie said. "And you girls can go in Angela's. Then we can divide up again after dinner, when they have to head back to San Francisco."

"Sounds like a plan, Darling," Emily said, giving Eddie a kiss on the cheek.

Tony had flown in to San Jose Airport rather than San Francisco, since it was a little closer to Palo Alto. He didn't actually have a ticket back to New York, but he, Eddie, and Emily knew that Angela would cover it. It hadn't been clear if she'd be able to wrap up the campaign on time. She'd apparently called Emily yesterday saying that there were complications with the account, but she'd still try to get away for dinner tonight.

Anyway, she might not be going home tomorrow after all. Maybe Tony could stick around and sightsee in the Bay Area till they could fly home together. But then, where would he stay? Should he ask Angela to put him up at her hotel, as she'd done for the Guacamunchies & Heather trip, or would Eddie and Emily put him up on their couch? Neither idea appealed to Tony much. He didn't want to impose on a honeymooning couple, for his sake as well as theirs, but on the other hand he'd feel funny sponging off Angela when he didn't even have the excuse he'd had on the LA trip of looking after Jonathan. (And that had been less work than he expected, since Michael and Heather initially had fun with parenting, before the vomit.)

Even if Angela did leave tomorrow, that still left open the question of where Tony would stay tonight. He hadn't thought all this through when he agreed to fly out for the City Hall wedding. Well, he'd talk to Angela later, after the wedding but maybe before dinner.

Meanwhile, he'd get a chance to talk to Eddie one-on-one in person, find out a little more about his friend's plans. And the girls could catch up on all they had to catch up on in the rental car.


	6. Minor Planet

As Angela drove to the Palo City Hall, she wondered how to broach the subject of whether Emily was rushing into this marriage. After all, Emily had rushed into the whole relationship. But a one-morning stand, or even living together, could be backed away from. Marriage was more serious. Yes, it could be ended, but Angela knew how hard divorce was. She didn't want her dear friend to go through that if it were avoidable.

But was it Angela's place to speak up? After all, she was tired of people interfering in her love life, "or lack thereof" as Mother sometimes said. Maybe her role was to be Emily's supportive friend, to stand up for her at the wedding. And who was to say that this romance, this marriage wouldn't work out? It had already lasted three months longer than anyone could've predicted.

"I suppose you think I'm rushing into this," Emily said.

"Well."  
"I am. I know. But I've never felt like this before. And Eddie and I are good together, really good. Not just in bed. He makes me laugh and he's sweet and understanding."

"Those are important qualities," Angela said, although she didn't feel they were enough.

"Also, well, I'm not getting any younger. I want a family. And of course Eddie does, being Italian."  
"I understand," Angela said softly. She thought of how a month and a half ago she and Tony had looked after the baby of one of Mother's coworkers. Baby Clint was adorable and so was Tony while caring for the little guy. Tony had asked her if she ever thought about having another baby. She had dreamily said, "Sure, but how?" He had teased he'd tell her later, not in front of the kid.

By "how," Angela had meant that she hadn't been in a serious relationship since Michael and it wasn't easy to meet men who weren't intimidated by her success. And she knew she'd have to slow down, at least for nine months, if she somehow did remarry and get pregnant. What would happen to her career then? Would Jim Peterson, that snake, undercut her in her absence from Wallace and MacQuade? Or would she put the baby into day care and feel neglectful? Of course, if she had a househusband, someone like Tony who enjoyed staying home, that would be different. But where would she meet someone like that?

Yes, there was Tony himself, who was as traditionally Italian as Eddie and clearly loved babies. But if there were barriers to her even dating Tony, how would she get past those and the additional barriers to marriage and parenthood?

She tried to focus on Emily again. "We're, you're not that old. Why not wait a year or two, spend some more time alone with Eddie?"

"I'm afraid I don't have time to wait."

Angela glanced over at Emily, even though she felt more like staring. She put her eyes back on the road as she said, "You're pregnant?"

"Yes, three months."  
"Oh!"

"I wasn't sure about it when I asked Eddie to move in with me, but I wanted to live with him either way. And we've been talking about marriage for a month, since I was sure. But it's not what you think."  
"I don't know what to think," Angela admitted.

Emily chuckled. "I understand. You see, in a way I feel like it's Fate. But I also feel like this is something I've chosen. There are many possibilities of what I could do, including raising a baby on my own, or giving it to Eddie's sister who can't have a baby and really wants one. But it feels right to me, to build a life, a family, with Eddie. OK, so it's all happened quickly, but isn't that better than not happening at all?"

"I suppose," Angela said. She was thinking of what it would be like if it never happened for her. Would that be worse than, say, falling into bed with Tony, maybe at the run-down motel near their old summer camps, and having ended up pregnant? If they had, if she had, if she'd gone through with it, the baby would be a month old now. And Tony, would he be her devoted husband, her doting househusband? Or would it have been too much for their relationship and broken them up even as friends? And what about her career? And how would Jonathan and Samantha feel about a baby sibling?

"I know it's not going to be easy. I can continue some of my research from home but I know that the baby will take up a lot of my energy. And Eddie jokes about having a half dozen kids, at least I hope he's joking. I might just want one, like you with Jonathan. There are things we'll need to work out. And I know his family is going to, well, they already do, feel funny about him dating a Protestant career-woman. And he has his own old-fashioned ideas about women. We try to see each other's viewpoint, but it's not easy. And, yes, I'm scared of this big Italian wedding in a few weeks. Meeting his family and friends. Being judged by them. But part of me envies him, this close-knit community he's given up for me but that's still a part of him. I want our child to know Brooklyn, to visit once or twice a year. To eat pasta."

Angela laughed. "Yes, your baby deserves that." She sighed. "I feel like I should warn you, or at least prepare you, but it sounds like you're aware of what you're facing, good and bad."  
"I try to be. But one thing I've learned this spring is that life can surprise you, no matter how well-prepared you think you are."  
"Yes."

"Oh, there's City Hall."

Angela found a parking space and a moment later the guys pulled up in Emily's car and took the spot next to theirs. The four of them got out of the cars and Tony said, "Let's get these two married off before they come to their senses." Angela would've scolded him but both Emily and Eddie laughed.


	7. Cluster

The marriage ceremony at City Hall was nice and simple, but Tony knew that if he ever got married again, he'd want a big wedding, more like the one Eddie and Emily were planning in New York. Tony and Marie had eloped but he wasn't 19 anymore. And he'd learned from his encounter with Gina Thanksgiving weekend that he wouldn't want to rush into it. Yeah, he'd known Gina since he was in high school and she was in grammar school, but he hadn't seen her in years, before she showed up unexpectedly at the Rossinis'.

It was funny to think he'd known Angela even longer, although not very well in the beginning. (He hadn't even known her real name when they first kissed!) And then over twenty years went by. But they'd really gotten to know each other since their surprising reunion, and after two years she was definitely his best friend. He couldn't imagine marrying her— they were too different and she was his boss— but if he were to get married, it would have to be to someone he knew and liked as well as her.

He wondered if she ever thought about getting remarried. He knew as well as anyone but Mona how unhappy her marriage to Michael had been. She'd told him enough details, and Tony had met Michael. He could understand if she was hesitant to ever take the plunge again after her divorce. But maybe if she met the right guy. Definitely not any of the guys she'd gone out with in the last couple years.

Tony didn't know where that would leave him. If he got married, well, maybe he could keep his job as housekeeper, if his wife and Angela got along OK. Maybe his wife would help him with housework, or maybe she'd have a job outside the home. Tony was more open to that possibility than he'd been with Marie. Maybe they wouldn't live with Angela and he'd just be there during the day, to get breakfast on the table (even if Angela just wanted juice and coffee most mornings), to greet Jonathan at the end of the schoolday, help him with his homework.

But what about Sam? Would it be hard for her to move out? She'd miss Angela, Mona, and even Jonathan. Well, maybe she could come over after school, especially if her stepmom was working. Or visit on weekends or something.

If Angela got married though, would it be a situation like when Michael tried for a reconciliation? That was over a year ago, and Tony and Angela were a hell of a lot closer than they were then, and even that had been enough for Michael to feel like Tony was filling his roles as Jonathan's father and Angela's best friend. And even though there was nothing between Tony and Angela romantically, well, there were sparks. And any husband would feel threatened by that, even if his wife never acted on it.

So it was good that neither of them had met anybody. It might, probably would, happen someday, but not yet. Tony was happy with things as they were and would've been happy with another five or ten years like these last two.

The four of them went out to dinner at a seafood place after they left City Hall. The shellfish and conversation were good. He and Eddie caught up some more, including about their mutual friends in Brooklyn, while the girls had a lot to say to each other, even after whatever they'd said in the rental car. And Angela wanted to know how the kids and Mona were doing. Everyone wanted to hear about the pasta account Angela had been dealing with in San Francisco, especially with the two models fighting over the job. Tony was proud of what Angela had done to make peace, although she modestly made little of her role. And Eddie and Emily of course were billing & cooing like any newlyweds, so this table was probably the liveliest in the restaurant.

The four of them good-naturedly squabbled over the check. In the end, Eddie paid. He'd started up a new exterminating company that was already successful, although he didn't yet make as much money as Emily. He probably would soon, particularly with her taking time off when the baby came. (Tony, especially after his time with Baby Clint, would've been fine staying home and taking care of a baby, but Eddie wasn't nearly as domestic.)

Tony knew he could never make as much money as Angela. Even if, by some miracle, his shoulder was its old self and he could play baseball again, he'd never earn as much as the President of the twelfth largest advertising agency in the country. Especially not at his age, with maybe only five good years left. And of course, his shoulder would never recover completely from the injury that had wrecked his career. Still, there were more important things than money, and he loved the job he had now. It was just, well, if he kept dating in Connecticut, there was a good chance that most of the women he met would make more money than a housekeeper.

After dinner, the four of them stood around, talking in the parking lot.

Angela asked, "Um, Emily, are you going to be using your married name professionally now?"

Emily shrugged. "I haven't decided. I'm known by my maiden name, but Emily Carpucci has a lovely sound to it."

Angela nodded. "The three syllables in the first and last name." Then she blushed for some reason.

Eddie picked up on it before Tony did. "Like 'Angela Micelli.' "

"Eddie," Emily scolded, while Angela blushed redder.

Tony said, "Um, I need to pick up my suitcase from your apartment." No matter where he was staying tonight, it couldn't be with the Carpuccis.

"Oh, I can drop you off at your hotel, Tony," Angela offered. "Where are you staying?"

"Uh, I hadn't figured that part out yet."

"Sounds like you two will have a lot to talk about on the drive to Frisco."  
"Eddie!"


	8. Gravity

"Maybe I could stay someplace else. Someplace cheaper."

Angela shook her head. "No, it's fine. There's a sofa in my room, if you don't mind that."

Tony smiled, even as he grumbled, "Even when I'm the guest, I gotta sleep on the couch?" She smiled back, thinking of how he'd given up his room for houseguests.

They hadn't gone directly to her hotel. First they drove around San Francisco, Angela carefully negotiating the hills. Since it was almost the longest day of the year, it was daylight for awhile, even after they reached town. Tony had played baseball in Frisco, but that was about six years ago, before his shoulder injury, and he hadn't had a chance to do much sightseeing. He and his teammates tended to mostly go bars, where newly widowed Tony was very popular with women. He was a gentleman telling her this that evening, but she could read between the lines.

Angela had been to San Fran before, but mostly on business, like this trip.

"It would be nice to come back sometime," she said as they gazed at the Golden Gate Bridge. "On a vacation."

"Angela, in the two years I've known you, you've never taken a vacation. Maybe a sick day here and there, but you never travel anywhere except for business."  
"Well, I could," she said defiantly.

"Yeah?" he challenged. "Where?"

"Anywhere. How about, um, Mexico?"

He chuckled. "Yeah, I can just see you, sunning on the beach, doing the hat dance, drinking tropical drinks."

"I could. I just need to find a lull where I can break away from the office."  
"Great, you can invite Jonathan's kids along."

"It'll be sooner than that. Maybe this summer."

He grinned. "I'm going to hold you to that."

"Well, not this month. Or July. But maybe I can go in August. We all could go. The kids and Mother, too."

"That would be great," Tony said, but as if he didn't quite believe it could happen.

She supposed she could take a week or two off, if she planned and scheduled carefully. Maybe it would do her good. She could rest and relax, replenish her creative juices. And there was no reason she couldn't take some work along, if there was anything so pressing it couldn't wait till her return. And she'd leave the phone number of the hotel with her assistant Howie, so he could reach her if anything big came up while she was away.

She knew that she wouldn't have considered a trip to Mexico if not for Tony. He had a way of nudging, sometimes even pushing, her to do things she secretly wanted, like painting her Jaguar red. (She wasn't crazy about his methods sometimes, but she had to admit she'd grown used to the color after a year and a half.) She knew she tended to be driven and uptight, which was part of why she was such a success, but there was the other side of her, the imaginative, free-spirited side, which was just as important to working in advertising. He was good at encouraging that side.

As for why she picked Mexico, well, she'd been thinking of someplace not too far away but more exotic than Los Angeles had been. She didn't know any Spanish, but she could buy a phrasebook later. She didn't think Tony knew any either, but it should be something like Italian, which he knew somewhat. She knew French, well, college French, and that was a romance language, too, so they'd be fine.

After driving around, they went back to her hotel to see if there was a vacancy. She insisted on paying for his room and his plane ticket home tomorrow. She would've paid for his ticket to San Jose, but Emily had insisted on covering that. Angela knew that Tony's macho pride made him feel funny about women buying him expensive things, but realistically, he just couldn't afford what she and Emily could. And she knew how important it had been to Eddie to have him there as best man. Angela had been glad to share the wedding with him, too, since only Tony could understand her mixed feelings about their friends' rushed relationship.

Not that they'd talked about it much in the car. There wasn't much left to say. They did talk about the expected baby, until that got a little awkward, both her and Tony remembering the feelings that the Clintster had stirred up. They agreed that they were happy for, if a little worried about, their friends, but they hoped things would work out for the best.

The reception desk clerk informed them that there were no vacancies in the hotel. It was a Thursday, but some tourists were starting the weekend early. And this was definitely tourist season. Angela suspected that it would be that way throughout town, and she really didn't feel like driving around trying to find a place for Tony when there was space in her room.

Yes, it would be awkward to share a room with Tony, but they were adults, not hormonal teenagers. And it wasn't like the night in the run-down motel near their old summer camps. This was a spacious room whose ceiling was unlikely to collapse. And it wasn't like Angela would be wearing only a pajama top. Tony had in fact packed her flannel PJs (top and bottom), the snuggly ones with the feet. San Francisco did get relatively cold at night, even when it was almost summer. It wouldn't be like she was in a seductive negligee.

When she returned in the pajamas after changing in the bathroom, she saw that Tony was trying to make himself comfortable on the couch, with a pillow and blanket he'd taken from her king-sized bed. He was wearing his usual pajama bottoms and white T-shirt.

"Are you going to be all right on there?"  
"Ay, it beats sleeping in the gutter."

"Maybe we could get dressed again and try to find you a hotel."  
"No, it's fine. And I really do appreciate you putting me up for the night."

"You're welcome."

She thought of offering to share the very large bed. It was certainly bigger than the one at the motel. But it would be too tempting to "sleep together," and not sleep. And they would have an early flight. Besides, she couldn't face all the changes that it would mean for their relationship. Not to mention that Mother would tease them enough as it was, once she found out about them sharing a room tonight.

"Well, goodnight, Tony."  
"Goodnight, Angela. Sweet dreams."

They looked at each other, and it was as intense as any look Eddie and Emily had ever exchanged in front of them. The legs of her footie pajamas quickly made their way over to the sofa and she leaned down and softly kissed Tony on the lips.

He was startled at first, but then he stroked her hair and used his other hand to pull her down into his lap. They kissed for a long time and soon began to breathe heavily.

Then he moved his head to her ear and she expected sweet nothings or maybe a nibble on her lobe. But he whispered, "Not like this, Angela. Please!"

"You don't want me?"  
"I— We can't. We agreed. Remember?"

She nodded reluctantly. "Yes. But I wish I could forget."

"Me, too, sometimes. But we can't. And if we were to start something, we'd need to discuss it first, think it through."

She laughed. "And everyone thinks you're the hot-blooded, impetuous one."  
"I am. Sometimes. But not with you. You're different. Special."  
It still felt like a rejection. Why could he fall into bed, or at least consider it, with other women, including women just as well-off or more than she was? OK, he hadn't gone through with it either time, but she knew he'd been tempted by Genevieve Pescher and Diane Wilmington. And he'd certainly had no qualms about dating her divorced neighbor Wanda Benedict soon after he moved to Connecticut. But then none of them was his employer.

"You're my best friend. I love you. I don't want to lose you."

"Oh, Tony!" She wasn't sure how he meant "love," and maybe he didn't either.

"Can you stand up? You're making this really hard. I mean." He coughed.

She kissed his cheek. "OK." She stood up and got into bed, alone but with a view of him on the couch. His face was flushed and his nostrils flared. She'd gotten to him and that was flattering. "Goodnight, Tony," she said, more flirtatiously this time.

"Goodnight, Angela," he said, his voice breaking like it had the night in the motel.

She slept surprisingly peacefully, feeling warm and safe with him in the room, close enough for now.


End file.
